Had the pleasure of making my first mayday call a couple of days ago
after being pushed onto the reef in front of Alofi, Niue. The fault
was mine. I got lazy and tied a shitty cleat hitch. I have tied that
hitch a thousand times, but sometimes cruising only requires one
mistake for disaster. Vigilance Vigilance Vigilance!

My crewmate Vlad and I are fine, and Panache sustained minimal damage,
but I am effectively shipwrecked. The rudder has a large fracture that we are currently repairing at the Yacht Club here in Alofi. They have been a great help, but my adventure might be winding down

New rudder costs about $2500, but getting to Tonga or American Samoa might cost just as much. When I get myself on a cyclone proof mooring ball I will do a proper fix, but its going to take a liter of epoxy resin and a 3 day sail to get there

Check out my post of the full event if you have time. There you can see pictures of the fractured rudder and Niue.